Dalton State Moves Up To #13 In Latest NAIA Coaches Poll

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

William Penn (Iowa) earns its first No. 1 position in school history in the 2017-18 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll, announced Tuesday by the national office. The Statesmen stand 16-1 on the season and collected 215 points in the poll.

Top 25 Highlights (historical information dates back to 2000):

William Penn (Iowa) posted four first-place votes to take the top spot.

The Statesmen stand four total points ahead of No. 2-ranked Lindsey Wilson (Ky.).

The Statesmen had held the No. 3 spot in each of the three previous polls this year.

William Penn is No. 1 in the NAIA in scoring offense (105.5) and No. 7 in scoring margin (22.4).

Lindsey Wilson, in its highest position of the season, stands with four first-place votes. The Blue Raiders are the lone team in NAIA Division I with an undefeated record (17-0).

Four programs are newcomers this week: No. 20 Westmont (Calif.), No. 22 Xavier (La.), No. 23 Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) and No. 25 Life (Ga.). Life and Westmont were both ranked earlier this season. Our Lady of the Lake and Xavier are recognized for the first time since last season.

There have been 38 different teams since 2000 to hold the No. 1 position. Former NAIA member Mountain State (W.Va.) leads the all-time charts with 48 all-time No. 1 rankings, followed by NAIA Division II member Robert Morris (Ill.) with 24. Georgetown is next with 16, former member Concordia (Calif.) at 12, LSU Alexandria (La.) and former member Cal State San Marcos at 11 and Columbia (Mo.) at nine No. 1 recognitions.

Robert Morris, now a NAIA Division II member in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC), is the only program to start and end a season ranked No. 1, doing so during the 2006 – 07 season.

Poll Methodology:

The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the conferences and Association of Independent Institutions.

The Top 25 is determined by a points system based on how each voter ranks the best teams. A team receives 30 points for each first-place vote, 29 for second-place and so on through the list.

The highest and lowest ranking for each team (a non-rating is considered a low ratings) is removed and the team's ranking will be recalculated with an additional point added to each team for every ballot (including discounted ballots) that the teams appears on.

Teams that receive only one point in the ballot are not considered "receiving votes"

Frequency of polls occur bi-weekly. This policy was approved by the National Administrative Council (NAC) beginning in the 2016-17 academic season. This change will allow raters the opportunity to consider a larger body of work in between rating periods.

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